Disclaimer: Disney owns Star Wars, not me. All the characters and places (except for my OCs Analise, Meeka, Gaspar, Myra, Sibar, and Sierra) belong to them.

"aaaa"-talking out loud."aaaa" (bold and intellics)-talking through a holo or com. 'aaaaa'-inner thoughts. aaaaa-talking through a Bond. "aaaa" (bold)-another language.

AN: Thank you to Guest (I am feeling like Rex is the better choice for Ahsoka and don't worry, Analise and Qui-Gon will be back in the next story First Fight), StormSkye, and Count Mallet (Ahsoka does view Anakin and Analise as her true siblings over Sierra and Sibar who are strongly anti-Jedi) for the reviews:)

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Chapter Seven

The sun was just starting to rise as three adult Togruta and an adult Kel Dor lead a young Togruta female, little more than a child out of a hut near the center of the village. Togruta of all ages, shapes, and sizes stood still as statues observing as one of the most important and sacred rites they held close was begun. A pair of young Togurta, male and female stood nearby as part of the family; but there was no joy on their faces. Only a sort of grim realization. As if they knew something others did not.

Ahsoka shivered a little in the chill of the morning. Gone were the comfortable, warm clothes she had worn at the Temple. In their place was bare feet, a simple leather top with matching pants. They were rough and worn. Ahsoka took comfort from them, these same clothes that Shaak had worn when years before she had had stepped into the dew-covered grasslands on a similar chilly morning to hunt down her own akul.

A hand strayed to her waist where normally her lightsaber hung. The lightsaber she had worked so hard on, had nearly frozen herself in the crystal caves searching for the crystal that called to her.

There was no metal cylinder at her waist, ready to fly into her hand at a moment's notice. How many times had Ahsoka heard Obi-Wan deliver a blistering lecture to Anakin after her almost-brother had once again misplaced his blade? A lightsaber was a Jedi's life and now her's was gone.

It wasn't missing. Her lightsaber now hung from Master Plo's belt. It rested next to his. Shaak had taken it from her and passed it to her foster father. "You are a hunter Ahsoka. A hunter does not use a lightsaber to take down their prey." Instead Shaak currently held the weapon that Ahsoka would carry into the grasslands. The same spear Shaak had used, the stone at the top sharp and deadly.

An Akul Hunt was as much about mind as action.

Only steps were heard as they walked through the village. Words were not spoken as spectators fell in line behind them. Rare it was when a Togruta was sent on their Akul Hunt before they were fourteen. Rarer still when that Togruta was also a Jedi.

On Shili an Akul Hunt made a young Togruta an adult started them on the path to become a Hunter of Shili. For a Togruta Youngling from the Jedi Temple, an Akul Hunt was the event that marked them ready for the rank of Padawan.

Wind blew gently through the grasses making them wave and dance as the crowd approached. The spectators stopped. Gaspar, Myra, Sibar, and Sierra went only a little further before they too stopped. It would be the duty of the Jedi to send Ahsoka into the grasslands to meet her fate.

Plo and Shaak took her right to the edge. The shorter grasses tickled Ahsoka's toes and legs as her eyes scanned the vast expanse before her. If there was a border to it, some marker on the other side; she could not see it. It was vast and empty, with very little to break up the see of brightly colored grasses.

"This is as far as we can go with you Ahsoka." Plo handed her a small pack which she slipped onto her back. There were rations inside. A blanket for when the nights got cold. A comlink in case she became too sick or injured to carry on.

"Remember the traditions of our people, of your blood." Shaak's hands were folded gracefully into her robes as she intoned the words that had been spoken to her when she too had entered the grasslands a Youngling and left a Padawan. "Seven suns will rise, six suns will set. That is the time you have been allotted for your hunt. If you are not back by the seventh sunset, we will search for you and your hunt will be over and the same you will stay. You will wait until another year has come and gone before you might hunt again."

Ahsoka nodded. She would have seven days and six nights for her hunt. If she did not return by the end of the seventh day, Shaak and Plo would come to search for her and Ahsoka's hunt would deemed a failure. She would have to try again the following year.

Some Togruta who had failed their hunts in the past had run away, ashamed of their failure. Others had chosen to die, letting an akul take them for their shame was too great to live with.

Ahsoka hitched her pack up on her shoulders, nodding as her mind raced through all the advice she had been given. The rough lessons in hunting Shaak had given her. The older Togruta had been quick to assure Ahsoka she would be fine. Hunting was in her blood and her instincts would take over. Ahsoka just had to think out-think the akul.

"I will not fail. I will succeed and become a Padawan." Her words were firm, the Force smiling at the determination and bravery behind the words. Just like its children, her brother and sister. Plo smiled.

"Spoken like a true Skywalker. Good hunting." He wrapped his arms around Ahsoka, letting his little 'Soka cling to him in one last fit of nerves. This was no Temple exercise or class, carefully crafted and experianced in the highly controlled environment of its halls. This was a hunt. It would be raw, violent, bloody, deadly.

It was a war between hunter and prey.

At least the Kel Dor dropped his arms and Shaak gave Ahsoka a gentle push. She took a deep breath, one bare foot stepping into the grasses, followed by another. Soon she was swallowed up by the grasslands. Her hunt begun.

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The outskirts were the pefect place to watch the start of the Akul Hunt unobserved. A twisted grin crept onto her face, reaching her one good eye as the brat was eaten by the grasses.

"I hope you Jedi said proper goodbyes, because you will never see the brat again!" A hand stroked the blade resting in its holder dangling from her waist.

One twist, one slice and the brat's blood would be watering the grasslands. Of course she hoped she would not need to kill the brat. She could make so much more if she handed her over to her employers alive. They were willing to pay less for death it seemed. Even when death made it easier for their crimes to be hidden under the rug.

Meeka shrugged to herself. Slowly the spectators left. Until the hunt was over, it was life as usual for the village. Except for Leader Meeka of the Freedom from Jedi League. She had a relative sick and near death in another village requiring her to vanish from the village for a few days.

A pack, similar to the one the brat bore with her rested on the ground by her side and she patted it. Soon...Very soon.

Soon her own hunt would begin.